I Wish You More Than Luck. Lo Moon

Funny how a brain works when hearing music for the first time. Since I have read the bio accompanying I Wish You More Than Luck, Lo Moon's third album. It continues for pages explaining the inspiration for the album, the band's history, places where inspiration struck, the fears surrounding 9-11. All I heard was a modern make over of Peter Gabriel's characteristic songs. I'm a lukewarm fan of the British progrocker of old, at best. I fell for Lo Moon's latest with ease though, as the band brings so much more to the equation.

Lo Moon is songwriter and singer Matthew Lowell, keyboardist and bassist Crisanta Baker, guitarist Samuel Stewart (son of Dave A, and Siobhan Fahey) and drummer Sterling Laws. The band started in 2016 and formed around one song of Lowell 'Loveless'. He sought bandmembers to play it with and they fell for the song. For me it's my first Lo Moon, so there's no comparing as far as I'm concerned.

If I have to put another tag on Lo Moon music's, I end up more in the U.K. than the U.S. Surprising as Lo Moon is from Los Angeles. The name I pose is Elbow. Lo Moon, in part, has these slow moving, atmospheric songs as well. The arrangements are fuller than Elbow's, the mood identical. The Gabriel reference is in the style of singing and the deeper, more complex levels of playing music.

In the U.S./Canada region I will mention bands like Half Moon Run and City and Colour, because Lo Moon has that same kind of slow but rich balladry quality. It creates a mood that is comparable. The songs are allowed to expand in sound making listening to I Wish You More Than Luck a satisfying experience, because there is so much to enjoy,

Press photo

Finally, there is this 80s kind of pop the likes of ABC played. The 80s synths are all gone, so that I Wish You More Than Luck sounds far more modern. The pop element is present in several songs, in which the band has found several nice riffs that make a song so much more interesting to listen to.

All together it makes Lo Moon's album rich in sound and in songs. Although the album as a whole gives me a melancholy feeling, listening to it is extremely pleasant. The songs are inherently different. The band has managed to find a few voices for itself, and that is where Lo Moon found its own voice and strength. Not to forget that Matthew Lowell's voice is extremely pleasant to listen to. He dares to be totally vulnerable, like in 'Mary In The Woods'. The rest of the band totally matches this, with help from some horns and/or woodwinds. Until slowly but surely the reigns are loosened and all start up a storm in ballad form.

The differences in the approach to most songs on I Wish You More Than Luck makes for great listening. Lo Moon made one of those warm albums very much worth while getting to know intimately.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order I Wish You More Than Luck here:

https://lomoonband.bandcamp.com/album/i-wish-you-way-more-than-luck/